Some dogs have all the luck!

 Some dogs get all the breaks...

Meet Clarinha, Pantera and Ruby

These adorable doggies live with a lovely family near Faro and they even have their own place - traditional Algarve style of course - complete with an Algarve chimney.

Clarinha, relaxing in style

Each room has been tastefully furnished and decorated with wall-to-wall shaggy carpet and comfortable cushions!

I've never seen anything quite like this before, have you?

Murphy's Law?

 Warning! This is a rant. I'll forgive you if you don't read the rest of this post. 

Stress out mama by biting the smallest? Me?

I think this phase began in early January.

The car lets me down in an underground car park at the shopping centre, spilling diesel.

It's an inconvenience, but it's quickly towed  and fixed.

Headaches during the long Carnival weekend put paid to any outings or gardening.

The car lets me down on the way to lunch with a friend.

It's towed and fixed, taking more than a month's salary! Yikes! My insurance gets me a replacement car.

The builder finally finishes the new roof on the back patio. Took him 2 months! He might have to wait another 2 until I have enough money to pay him...

I discover my blood pressure is high. I feel exhausted and headachy all the time.

The car lets me down, again. That doesn't help my blood pressure, plus I get a bad cough from standing in the sun waiting for the tow truck.

I miss 2 lessons and go home to take a sedative. 

An hour later they tell me the car is "fixed".

I drive out for the last lesson of the same day and guess what? When I try to drive home, it won't start! I call the mechanic, he comes out, fiddles around a bit, takes me home and then gets the car to the garage. Next day he tells me the car is fixed. I don't really believe him. I'm scared to drive it away. I tell him to test it for another day while I go on strike.

At the weekend, I don't take the dogs to dog school because I'm scared the car will break down in the sticks.

I can't get enough sleep because my coughing keeps me awake.

My big dog bites my small dog, again! I also get a tiny hole in my arm separating them. Both bites seem to be heeling.

It's time to do my Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post, I take some pictures of my neglected garden, but cannot write the post.

I have tons of work to do and the boss (Ministry of Education) decides I need 2 days of training plus a placement test (Yes, I have to do a placement test!) to give the students the PET test. I feel insulted! Along with all my colleagues who have to do this.

I will have to give up my free day (free to keep up with school paperwork, that is) plus a day of lessons in which I had important things to do with the students to go to this training session. Oh, and I need to take earphones for my listening test! But I'm allergic to earphones!

April and May will be great fun, running around to other schools when the kids have to do the oral part of the exam and then correcting their written tests. What fun! I'll get to meet so many different colleagues and students! I wonder if my car will get me around the Algarve. All this while teaching my own classes and keeping up with my paperwork. Oh, and we don't get paid for the extra hours we'll be putting in.

I sure hope this phase ends soon!

The car has worked OK for 3 days now. I don't know if this will continue.

Not quite in holiday mode

School has finally broken up for the summer holidays and I'm not working on a tight schedule any more - just writing reports, helping students who have exams and invigilating exams when necessary. Some days I can stay home all day but I'm finding it hard to catch up on the many tasks on my to-do list. Inertia has set in and I can lie on the sofa for hours napping. Whenever I feel guilty about not being productive, I remind myself that I need time to recover from the end of school year stress...

I welcome just about any excuse to put off the jobs that don't appeal to me. On Friday a friend who I hadn't seen in almost a year turned up at my gate, so we had a long chat, a few laughs and went for some retail therapy. Nothing got done, but I had a fun afternoon!

"Take Pandora to obedience classes" is one of the more pleasant tasks on my to-do list.

Meet Pandora

Two days after I got her from the shelter - doesn´t she have the face of an angel?

I love her, she loves me but it turns out that she is suffering from separation anxiety, which is quite common in dogs from shelters, apparently. She gets really stressed and is stressing out her canine and human companions. As a result, I have been reading up on the problem in an attempt to turn the situation around while at the same time trying to limit the damage she can do around the house when left on her own.

If you have ever had to deal with a similar problem and have any suggestions, please share them with me. We need all the help we can get.

Do they know it's Christmas?

I wish you a Happy, Peaceful Christmastime!

Personally, I'm not ready for Christmas. This afternoon I thought I'd just pop in to the nearest shopping mall for a few things but after seeing the queues, I drove in and out of the underground parking area in less than 5 minutes!

You see, instead of shopping yesterday, I drove all the way to Lagos to visit a dog shelter. Instead of resting or shopping or putting up the Christmas decorations, I lost my head and adopted another dog, a female that has spent her entire life in the shelter (nearly 2 years), and looking back at all the others that were left behind, it occurred to me, "Do they know it's Christmas?"

Mimosa (2000 - 2013)

She came to me at the end of September 2000. She had been rescued in Espinho and I was lucky enough to adopt her.

I come to your house and have to wear this ridiculous thing for how long?!

In 2005, already in the Algarve, and sharing my attentions with three more rescue dogs.

Do you like this pose? I'm doing my best to look fierce!

This summer

What am I supposed to do while you cut the grass?

Last photo taken on 15th September

Don't you ever get tired of taking photos of the flowers?

I had to have my best, most loyal and oldest four-legged friend put to sleep on the 14th of October.

She was my shadow for over 13 years - wherever I went, she had to follow. If I left the room for a few minutes, she'd come looking for me, even when we visited the vet for the last time.

I miss my sweet Mimosa so much!

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Candid Shots

Updated to fix the link to Cee's new blog url.

Friday was Animal Day so this is going to be all about animals.

I just love walks on the beach!

If we do synchronized lying down for you, will we get the leftovers?

Wait a minute, I'm scratching my itch.

Stopping for some photos on an Algarve country walk.

Visit Cee's for more candid shots!

Captivating

My smallest dog craves attention and has perfected a few, sure methods to captivate everyone she meets.

 

 

Captivating is her middle name!

For other captivating posts visit Jake's latest Sunday Post.




Related posts on this blog:

• Pet
• Pleasure
• Focused Attention

 

Focused attention

Have you noticed that our pets do not multi-task. Unlike us humans, they concentrate all their attention on the task at hand. It's fascinating to watch.

"Intruders beware, I'm here!"

You can see another shot of her alert and ready to scare the living daylights out of any intruder here.

"OK, I got it, I'll smile for the camera."

She is so willing to please!

"Hmm... interesting smell here."

You should see her homing in on a gecko!

"Hmm...I knew it - that cat was here again."

"Hey there, human! Get those dogs away from me!

I promise no animal or human was harmed in the production of this post!

This is my entry for Jake's Sunday Post challenge - Focused attention. You can check out the other entries here.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: 2012 people, animals, outdoors and nature

I am joining Cee's challenge for the first time and starting off with a combination post:

People and Animals

Walking back and forth all day in the summer months, selling his wares cannot be easy, yet he always has a smile for anyone he meets along the way.

Locals at the monthly market in Algoz - shopping and catching up on the gossip.

This guy had the good sense to choose a sitting position!

I have used this photo of a participant in the street animation at a medieval fair before on a post for Jake's Sunday post challenge.

I can't resist introducing my 4 dogs. There are quite a few posts about them on my blog. Here are 2 in the garden.

Here are my other 2 on an outing to the beach.

Outdoors and Nature

A carob tree, common in the Algarve landscape.

An almond tree in bloom, also common in the Algarve in January/February.

A cloudy morning at the Aveiro lagoon.

Click on the image below to visit Cee and learn more about her challenge.

Cee's new blog url updated on 9th November 2013.

Driving Miss Mimosa

When a family member is ill your life revolves around their needs. 

It is the same when your pet is ill. Mimosa had her Vestibular Event 6 days' ago and I've only left her alone to go to work. Yesterday she finally started showing some appetite and her involuntary eye movements have almost stopped. She still sleeps most of the time and tends to move in circles. She tries to go faster now, so she bumps into things now and then. She hasn't barked since Friday.

Head tilting to the left... but moving on her own

This afternoon I wanted to drive into Portimão to take some photos along the beach. I decided to take Mimosa with me. She used to jump into the back of the hatchback as soon as I opened it; today I had to pick her up to get her in, of course. Before, she would jump over the back seat and try to get to the front passenger seat. Now she stays in the back.

And walking along the river...

I didn't actually go to the beach because  as I was driving across the Arade River, I thought I'd take some photos of the old bridge, so I stopped there and took a walk along the river instead. I didn't think Mimosa would be able to stand a long walk but I was surprised to find that she did very well. On the lead she almost managed to walk in a straight line!

Reading the title of the sculpture or checking out the smells?

The weather was fantastic and the views were fabulous.

Sculptures along the river and the old bridge in the background

Boats on the Arade River, Portimão

It's complicated...

If you were expecting a Sunday post inspired by Jake, you won't find one because Jake's computer has let him down - he must be devastated. Here's hoping things will be back to normal soon, Jake.

Life's complicated...

One minute you are smiling to yourself in the mirror, looking forward to your weekend and the next you are in the middle of a crisis:

I discovered my oldest dog, Mimosa (12.5 years old), had peed and was vomitting violently in the living room. As I opened the sliding doors to let her go outside, I noticed she wobbled and stumbled like a drunk. It was a heart-wrenching sight!

This happened on Friday afternoon. She took to her bed, eyes twitching, lethargic but raising her head now and then to see if I was nearby. By bedtime, she looked slightly better although she wouldn't eat.

Yesterday morning, she had another vomitting spell when she got out of her bed and wandered clumsily outside! I thought she might have had a stroke or eaten something toxic!

She has been diagnosed with Vestibular Syndrome and I have learnt a lot about a disease that I had never heard of before! It seems it is quite common in older dogs.

I am hoping that, like many other dogs I've read about, Mimosa will also recover. I let her sleep with the lights on so she won't get confused when she wakes, something a blogger who has been through this suggested.

This morning I helped her get out of her bed and kept her steady until she was outside. She didn't throw up again, thankfully. She's still wobbly and lethargic but she even tried to run to me when I returned from the café (but she veered dangerously to the left and slowed down).

Her lack of appetite is worrying - she has only eaten very small bites of chicken from my hand since she had her Vestibular Syndrome Event.

Here is a photo of Mimosa looking happy and alert, calmly waiting for me to finish taking photos of my garden for the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post on the 14th of this month.

Mimosa, looking alert and healthy, the way I like her

Pet

Each week Jake proposes a theme and you can post your interpretation of the theme on your blog anytime before the following Sunday. If you decide to join in, remember to post your link in the comments section  at Jake's blog.

Here is my entry for this week's theme.

Playful, when Jallie first arrived.

I have four rescue dogs of mixed breeds. Friends sometimes suggest that having pets places constraints on my ability to travel and go on holiday. To them I say that before I had a crippling mortgage, I did go on holiday - it just meant making arrangements with a pet-sitter. I cannot imagine my life without dogs around the place.

They are all female. I have a soft spot for the females because they are the ones that get abandoned more frequently. Two are medium-sized dogs, one is small and the newest addition to the family is quite big. Each has her own distinct personality. I love them to bits. They always give me the royal welcome home, regardless of my having been away for five minutes or a whole day. They love walkies and fortunately the Algarve weather permits that almost every day.

Exploring by the sea

This is my oldest dog, Mimosa. She has been with me since 2000. She is hard of hearing and has never had very good eyesight but she is still very energetic and protective of me. She hates thunderstorms. She follows me everywhere she can, like a shadow. She was top dog until the big one took over.

I'm sooo cute!

This is my smallest, Clarita. Everyone loves her so she is spoilt. I can take her anywhere and nobody complains. She craves attention and feels entitled to it all the time. She only really gets on well with humans, Nina and a few small dogs she meets on her walkies. She likes to try catching any gecko that lives in the garden.

What is going on?

Nina is my most loving dog. She gets on well with all dogs but is still wary of people she doesn't know. When she first came to me she used to run away and hide in the garden. I still remember trying to coax her from under the bougainvillea and into the house on a cold, dark rainy night. She gives really good foot massages with her tongue. LOL. Some say she has a sad expression but she is very happy and energetic, really.

Top dog.

Jallie is the most recent arrival, and now top dog by virtue of size and strength. Everyone comments on her big ears. She is old enough to be wiser but she is still a bit mad. I don't let her stay in the front garden unsupervised because she sticks her head through the railings and scares the hell out of passers-by. She also dashes here and there, bumping against my legs and her 3 companions. They don't like that one bit, because she's much bigger than them and hurts them even when she doesn't intend to. She's very bossy.

Two in a bed.

They are all reasonably well-behaved doggies, but when they came to me they had already developed their hatred of cats to such an extent that I have never been able to change that. The neighbours' cats like to visit my garden and cause quite a stir when they are detected. Sometimes I have to go to the rescue.

Related post: Why was that cat up the lemon tree?

Perfect Days

Part of the view from my veranda!

This post is a celebration of two perfect days.

By juggling work commitments I managed to have yesterday and today to really do just what I felt like doing. That is extremely rare in itself. I was very lucky because yesterday the temperature rose dramatically and I woke feeling energised and ready for a long walk with my dogs. And that is how my perfect days began.

Although I hadn't walked much lately (weather and work not permitting), I got home still full of energy and in a great mood. I looked at my outrageously overgrown lawn and decided to tackle it. That took me ages and a lot of sweat, too. When that was done I was exhausted but triumphant. The rest of the day was to relax.

Today I had breakfast on the veranda for the first time this year, admiring my newly cut lawn from under that big orange tree.

Next on the agenda - a beach walk.

Looking good, low tide, no wind

Arriving at the beach, it was great to see it was low tide and that my hat would stay on my head.

Galé/Salgados beach

Isn't this a marvellous beach to go for long walks on? 

These birdies gave my dog a bit of extra exercise.

My small dog had fun chasing these little birds. They weren't bothered - just took off and landed a bit further on.

What a coincidence!

Today I decided to lend my boat to a few friends, lol - aren't they lucky?

Rocks can be interesting.

What animal does that rock formation remind you of?

The rest of the the day was spent relaxing with the scents from the garden wafting through the open windows. Two perfect days!